More Manufacturers Are Transforming Into a “Digitally Mature Enterprise”

Manufacturers should strive to become “digitally mature enterprises” if they truly want to transform how their businesses work, a growing number of experts say. While many companies use individual digital technologies such as social, mobile, analytics and cloud to solve discrete business problems, maturing digital companies integrate all of these technologies to actually transform processes, talent engagement and business models, according to the July report, “Strategy, Not Technology, Drives Digital Transformation,” published by MIT Sloan Management Review and Deloitte University Press. The report highlights several digitally maturing manufacturers, including McCormick & Co. The Sparks, Md.-based spice and flavoring manufacturer developed FlavorPrint, an algorithm representing the company’s flavors as a vector of 50 data points. McCormick currently uses FlavorPrint to recommend recipes to its consumers, but eventually, all flavors will be digitized, and the company will be able to tailor them to regional, cultural and even individual personal tastes. Another manufacturer listed in the report is working with the film school at the University of Southern California to hone its storytelling abilities. According to the report, storytelling is becoming a popular means of gaining employee buy-in and organizational traction for digital transformation. “We are learning new approaches to create narratives about digital,” says the company’s vice president of strategy, research and new business innovation. She points out that although the context is different—cinematic arts—a huge amount of the film school’s work is about telling a story and telling it well. Overall though, the manufacturing sector is providing digital skills to employees but has yet to realize digital gains. “The issue may be that executives in the sector need to increase their efforts to encourage employees to use digital technologies to innovate,” the authors wrote. B. Bonin Bough, senior vice president and chief media and e-commerce officer for Mondelēz International, the […]